Books and Botanists
Monday, April 13th, 2009There are two opportunities in Philadelphia this month to hear about Quaker botanists John Bartram and Peter Collinson whose collaboration enriched the horticultural knowledge of the 18th century.
Elizabeth McLean, co-author of Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth-Century Natural History Exchange will speak at The Library Company April 15, 2009 at 5:30 pm. Collinson found British clients for the Philadelphia naturalist John Bartram at a time when the English landscape was evolving to include exotic trees and shrub and American specimens were in high demand.
On April 29, 2009 The Brother Gardeners, Botany, Empire & the Birth of an Obsession will be presented by author Andrea Wulf at The Academy of Natural Sciences at 2:00pm. Wulf will illustrate how the initial efforts of Collinson and Bartram grew to include a circle of influential scientists who brought science and rational thought to horticulture and shaped the landscape of Georgian estates.
This serendipitous pair of events will make for fruitful growth of appreciation for the Philadelphia roots of botanical science.
